Side Effects
by Electric.mer
Summary: After a trip to Dia Corp Lance finds something he wouldn't have ever expected, a genetic mutation that the company calls a Galra. He saves the gulra and our story ensues from there. There will be ABO dynamics within the story. Also a warning that in later chapters there are rape and non-con elements. Rated M for lemons, mentions of rape, and gore.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Pain. That's all that he knew. From his very first memory to the hours before he fell asleep that is all that he could register, all he could feel. The way that they would drag him out of a cell, his only sanctuary, to a room where they would inject him with the same strange, purple liquid every day and then probe him with anything from an electric rod to a syringe that would take blood from him. He would laugh on the inside as he thought of the fact that the black, ink-like subsense that would come out of him was no longer his blood and more like it belonged to the thing he had become. He was far from human now. The sharp k-9s in his mouth and purple ears that grew from the sides of his head were proof of that. The times he had looked in the mirror had shown something that didn't even resemble his old self in the slightest. All that remained of the human that he used to be was his jet black hair and his violet eyes. Even his skin, though some of it's original porcelain color was visible, had patches of purple that were slowly taking over his body and staining it. At the end of the day he would be thrown back into his cell where he would spend the rest of his night either crying until he fell asleep or thinking of his mother. They had taken her from him. He remembers screaming her name out as they dragged her away from him when he was just a child. That was twelve years ago, though he didn't have much concept of time anymore. His days were all the same; suffering, pain, and agony. That was until he appeared and saved him.

Chapter 1

Lance groaned as he turned off his alarm. Rolling over in his bed he stared at his ceiling thinking about his day. He contemplated skipping school for the day, it was Friday after all, until he remembered the class trip that he was supposed to take that day. Throwing off his covers, he ran to his closet to retrieve his usual attire. He went to his bathroom to wash his face and brush his hair. He had a very precise skin care routine that he followed to a T every day. Waking out of the bathroom and down the stairs, he made his way into the kitchen where he met his family. Being the middle child of 5 had its ups and downs. For one he was always one of the last to the table for any meal, as his littlest siblings were always by their parents and his oldest ones were always getting to the table before anyone else could. By the time that he arrived to the kitchen most of that morning's food had been taken so he settled for a piece of toast.

"Good morning" his mother called from behind her computer. "Are you ready for your class trip today?"

"Yep" he answered, talking around his mouth full of toast.

"Do you need anyone to drop you off this morning?" she asked.

"No I should be g-crap! I'm late for the bus!" he exclaimed as he grabbed his bag and rushed towards the door. Telling his mom and siblings goodbye he bolted out the door and sprinted to the bus stop. To his relief the bus hadn't left and he was able to climb aboard. He sat down in his usual seat and caught his breath. Panting heavily, he looked over to the giggling passenger next to him.

"What's so funny?" he asked, sounding offended.

"Oh, nothing" his friend Hunk responded. "Just that you knocked over old Mrs. Jones' flower pot in your mad dash to the bus stop and will now have to deal with her lecture on respecting others' property".

"Did I do that? Well, shit. I was planning on a relaxing this afternoon but I guess that isn't happening now."

"No it isn't pretty boy", chimed in a third voice. Their head of light brown curls popping up from behind his and Hunk's seat.

"Stay out of this Pidge", Lance grumbled, slumping down in his set with his arms crossed.

"Actually, Mr. Grumpy Pants, I can't. I made a bet with Hunk on weather or not you would be running late this morning, so pay up", she stated firmly, holding out her hand towards Hunk with a satisfied smirk.

"Aww man", Hunk wined as he handed over a $10 bill. "Dude, I was hoping to get some extra cash today to take Shae out this weekend. You and your stupid skin and hair routine ruined that for me."

"Sorry buddy, but I need to stay looking perfect. How else am I supposed to woo the ladies?", he asked as he turned to wink at a group of girls towards the back of the bus, causing them to giggle.

"Maybe try being yourself? I know that looks are important to you and all, but that shouldn't be the only thing that you care about when it comes to relationships" Pidge piped in as she pocketed her money.

"Oh please, what do you know about relationships Pidge?", he defended.

"I know that you should care about how the person feels about you and how you can pick them up when they are down. You shouldn't base a relationship on purely physical attraction", she responded, adjusting her circular glasses.

"Guys, lets not fight today, okay?", Hunk squeaked, looking between the two nervously.

"Fine", they both responded in unison.

The rest of the ride to school consisted of Hunk telling Pidge about a problem with his computer, to which she eventually decided that his best option was to give it to her to fix. They arrived to their high school and all headed to their classrooms. Hunk and Pidge had English together so that left Lance on his own as he made his way to his biology II class. His entire day was taken up by his class trip to the country's most innovative lab in genetics, Daibazaal Corp, Dai corp for short. When he entered the classroom his teacher took roll and they all boarded the bus to head to the main facility of Dia corp.

When they finally reached the building they all offloaded and headed through the doors. Lance was greeted with the sight of a place that screamed science. The front desk area alone was captivating with it's large models of DNA and the screens displaying what looked to be employees and their genetic information. He made a mental note to take pictures for Pidge so that she could see what it looked like on the inside. Lance was so wrapped up in the design of the building that he hadn't noticed that their tour guide had arrived. She was fairly tall with white hair that was tied up in a bun. She wore a light pink suit that helped her bright blue eyes stand out.

"If you would please follow me we can begin our tour", she said with a rather soft voice that had a heavy English accent. When she turned around some of the more immature guys in his class made comments on how they would "tap that" to which Lance rolled his eyes. He wouldn't deny that she was very beautiful, but he knew his boundaries when it came to older women. They all continued to head down a hall where Alura, as she had introduced herself to the group, proceeded to explain the research that they conducted at Dia corp. The group continued down the hall until one of Lance's classmates asked,"What is that?"

They all proceeded to turn in the direction that the girl was pointing. Lance's mouth dropped in aw as he stared at a screen that showed a woman, at least he thought was a woman. Her skin was purple in color, her ears had points on the tips, and her eyes which look to have once been a light lavender still held their original color except for the fact that the whites of her eyes were now a glowing yellow. Her hair was cut strangely and was a dark violet on top and pink on the bottom.

"Ahh", said Alura. "That would be our latest discovery in genetic mortification. We call them Galra. By combining the DNA of multiple animals and injecting them into a human we were able to produce this hybrid species that is a literal living weapon. Pretty amazing isn't it?"

"Isn't human experimentation illegal?", asked a boy from the back of the group.

"Oh, don't worry this is completely legal. The two subjects that we have signed documents stating their full consent to the tests", she assured the student.

Lance nodded off, his eyes starting to wonder once more. His ears suddenly picked up on the sound of someone crying somewhere in the near vicinity. He looked around until his eyes landed on a door. Checking his surroundings and realizing that the group had left him he headed towards it. He slowly turned the knob and found that it was unlocked. He stepped into the room and silently closed the door behind him. He was greeted with another hallway, only this one was much smaller and turned around a corner roughly three feet in front of him. Carefully Lance made his way around the corner and stopped dead in his tracks. The sight that greeted him was far from what he was expecting to find.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

His eyes widened as his gaze fell on the figure in front of him. Behind a wall of thick, transparent glass sat a teen curled in on himself. Lance stepped forward and touched his hand to the glass to get a better look at the boy who was whimpering, his small frame shaking as the sobs wrecked his body. Now closer, Lance could see into the dark room where the boy sat. The boy, if that is even what he was, had pale skin with patches of purple that covered most of what skin was in view, his jet black hair was oddly cut into a strange mullet that looked as if it was cut only to keep it out of his face, which was currently buried in his arms, and to top it all off he wore a white hospital gown that had small blue dots adorning it.

Lance gasped as he noticed the bandages covering the boy's arms and legs. They had a black, almost ink-like substance seeping through them and now that he could see better he realized that the same substance was all over the walls and floor of the room. His gasp must have been louder than he thought because the small teen looked up in surprise at the sound which further astonished Lance. The boy's eyes were a stunning lilac and the whites were replaced with a glowing yellow and his face was covered with scratches and bruises. He looked to be around Lance's age. Lance immediately jumped back and the boy proceeded to do the same, only he was already on a wall so he just pressed closer to it. He watched as the boy's eyes flickered and the glowing yellow disappeared, leaving only the purple of his eyes shining with tears. Lance immediately sprang into action and began looking for a way to get to the boy. As far as he knew the teen could be hurt. He had to get him out. Seeing another door that seemed to lead into the room on the other side of the glass, he went and tried to open it. The door was locked. Lance quickly searched the room for an object he could use to break the lock. Spotting a tin cylinder, he grabbed it and slammed it into the lock, which crumbled off the door at the impact.

He kicked the door open and ran inside the room. The dark haired teen cowered into a corner on the far side of the room. Lance took a step forward only to stop in his tracks as the boy bared his teeth and growled at him. It took him off guard because it sounded purely animalistic instead of like it was coming from a human. He slowly sank to the ground and put his hands out in a surrendering position.

"It's ok, I'm not here to hurt you", he reassured the small male in front of him. " I'm here to help you get out of here. Is it okay if I come over to you?"

The boy slowly ceased his threatening growl and closed his mouth to hide his rather sharp k-9s. His gaze flickered between his arm, which he was clutching to his chest, and to Lance. He nodded, all while having a wary look in his eyes. Lance crept forward, making sure to keep eye contact with the boy as to not scare him again. As he got closer to the small teen he carefully reached out his hand. The boy lowered his arms from their defensive position and gazed at the floor. Lance lightly took one of his arms in his hand to inspect the bandage. He gently touched the area that was soiled with the black liquid. When he brought his fingers back it stuck to them and eventually dripped onto the ground.

"What is this stuff?", Lance pondered out loud.

"Blood", came the hoarse whisper of the teen in front of him. His heart melted at the sound. It was neither high nor low, a perfect middle that oddly fit the dark haired male. Lance would have been able to listen to it for hours had he not sounded as if he had been screaming for hours on end before hand.

"What do you mean it's blood? Who has blood that looks like this?"

"I do. After the injections started it slowly got darker until it became the color that you see now."

Injections? Who would want to inject such a beautiful person? Did that mean that this was the result of experimentation? Suddenly all of Lance's thoughts came to a stop. He looked down at the wrist of the teen in front of him. Then he saw it. A band with a barcode and the information of its wearer. Lance read what it said.

"Subject G2, Keith, age: 18, child of subject G1. Injection time period: 12 years. Has difficulties adjusting to Galra DNA change." Galra. He was one of he test subjects. Keith, or so his tag called him, was one of the two test subject of the Gulra genetic modification. He was obviously suffering and didn't want to be tested on as shown by the scratch marks on the door frame that indicated a struggle to stay in the room. Had Dia corp lied to them about the test subjects? Had Keith been subjected to this for twelve years and suffered from what the DNA did to him? Lance shook his head and cleared his toughs. He glanced up at Keith, who he now knew a lot more about, and gave him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna get you out of here."

Keith's ears, which had been down, suddenly perked up, allowing Lance to see their oddly catlike shape and the purple fur attached to them. His eyes shined with hope and he eagerly nodded his head as if to say that he was ready to leave, and if Lance had been in his situation he too would have been ready to leave.

"Can you stand?", Lance questioned as he looked at the odd way that Keith's legs were positioned under his body.

"I don't know", he answered, sounding defeated. "The last test that they did on me was to test my bone strength. They hit my legs pretty hard and I think one of them is broken."

"That's okay", Lance reassured him. "I'll just, uhh, can you get on my back?"

"I think so."

Lance turned round and got into a stance that would allow Keith an easy way onto his back but also give him enough leverage to get back off the ground. His breath caught in his throat as he felt Keith's small arms wrap around his shoulders. He reached back and grabbed under Keith's knees but stopped when he heard a hiss of pain.

"Sorry, which leg is broken?", he asked apologetically.

"No, your good. Not your fault. It's the right one."

Much more carefully, he took hold of Keith's legs and hoisted them off of the ground. To his surprise the teen on his back was much lighter than he expected him to be. He adjusted Keith so that his bad leg was cradled by his arm and his other wrapped around his waist, giving himself a free arm to open doors when needed.

"You good?"

"Mhm".

"Then hold on tight".

"Okay", came Keith's reply as he tightened his grip on Lance and buried his head into the side of his neck. Said teen proceeded to stiffen up as the smaller male's body pressed closer to his back, effectively putting Keith's body flush against his back. Lance shook his head to try and rid his face of the crimson blush that now covered his tanned skin.

With one last check on his passenger he made his way out of the room and into the hallway that he was originally in. Slowly stepping out he looked around, placing his free hand on the wall for support as he peered out into the main walkway for tours. He looked left and right to check for any signs of someone coming down the hall. "I think we're...", Lance was cut off at he sound of Keith growling.

Lance looked over his shoulder to see a Keith staring at something to his right. When he saw what Keith was looking at he swore under his breath. Coming down the hall were two men in security uniforms, armed with what looked like heavy duty guns, were running towards them. By the looks of them they were going to shoot first and ask questions latter. He griped Keith's leg tighter and checked that said person had a good grip on his shoulders. He glanced back and gave Keith a reassuring smile. He looked back at the security guards that had gained on distance to them.

He scanned his surroundings to try and find an easy way to get them out. The only way out seemed to be the front door, so they would just have to suck it up and book it to a safe location outside. He tensed his legs in preparation for his sprint and felt Keith's leg tighten around his waist, which of course didn't faze him in any way possible except for slight tightening in his groin. He also felt his arms constrict around his shoulders for a better grip. A shot rang through the hallway just as a bullet barely missed Lance's foot.

"And that's our cue to get the hell out of here!", Lance exclaimed as he took off down the hall. The gunshots sounded loud and clear behind them as he ran through the twisting corridor. He prayed that they didn't get hit by a bullet because going to the hospital with Keith would probably not be the best idea, thankfully so far the guards were missing terribly.

"Ha! What are they, storm troopers?", he questioned while laughing to himself. He turned one last corner and was brought right to the front of the building. Lance couldn't believe his luck. Without a moment of hesitation he launched himself forward and slammed through the doors. Lucky for him, he knew this area of town like the back of his hand. He quickly ran down the sidewalk, ignoring the strange looks of the people that he passed, and ducked into the nearest alleyway. He slid behind a dumpster and carefully set Keith down.

"We actually made it. I can't believe it. Oh my God, that was the coolest thing I've ever done. How about you? How are you feeling?", Lance finally looked down at Keith from his mini celebration. Keith was staring at the ground, his hand clutching the fabric of his hospital gown right where his heart was, and he was hyperventilating. Worrying that he was hurt, Lance dropped to his knees in front of the smaller male. He put his hands on his shoulders and lightly shook them to get his attention.

"Hey? Keith, buddy? Are you feeling okay? Are you hurt? Come on speak to me."

"I'm free? I'm out of that place?". Keith looked like he couldn't believe what had happened.

"Yeah of course your out that's why we are hiding behind this dumpster", Lance answered, letting out a relieved sigh. Though he took the air he had jut let out right back in as arms were thrown around him.

"Thank you, thank you so much. You have no idea how grateful I am". Keith shook as tears started to fall. His hold tightening on the teen in front of him.

Lance slowly hugged Keith back. "Yeah, um, no problem". He sat there and let the small teen hug him. When the arms retracted he quickly stood up to create some distance between the two of them. "Oh, uhh, here take this", he said, handing his jacket the Keith. "You can use it to cover up your gown while we get to a safe place. I highly doubt that you have anywhere to go at this point and seeing the shape that you are in I want to make sure that you are okay."

"Thanks", Keith said as he took the jacket that was offered to him and put it on, noticing how it smelled like Lance. "Oh, I just have one question, what's a storm trooper?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After a twenty minute taxi ride, that thankfully didn't include any strange questions from the driver, a call to his brother Luise asking if he could crash his apartment for a couple of days since he was out of town, and a long history lesson on the God sent creation that was Star Wars, Keith and Lance finally arrived at Luise's apartment. Despite Keith's reassurance that he could manage waking due to his accelerated healing ability, Lance still carried him up to the second floor apartment. Lance quickly unlocked his door and stepped into his apartment. He kicked the door closed and crossed the room until he reached the couch, to which he gently set Keith on. With a quick, "I'll be back in a minute", he headed off deeper into the apartment towards the bathroom to retrieve some supplies.

Keith sat on the couch and pondered over the events that had occurred in the past few hours. Twelve years, that is how long he had been subjected to the experiments. Twelve years since he had seen his mother. Twelve years where every day was filled with agonizing painful injections and torture and then, out of nowhere, this complete stranger appears and saves him. He couldn't believe it, not one bit. He kept expecting to wake up back in his cell to find that this was all a dream. Yet, here he was, sitting on the couch of his rescuer, inside an apartment, miles away from the cell that he had once considered his only sanctuary.

He was brought out of his thought as said person reappeared with a white box with a red plus sign on it, as well as a bowl filled with what looked like water and a white piece of fluffy looking cloth. When he finally reached Keith, he crouched down in front of him and met his eyes. Keith took in a deep breath as he took in the cerulean blue eyes of the male in front of him. Back in the cell he could tell the eyes of the teen were blue, but these were stunning and seemed to be as deep and mysterious as the ocean itself.

"Keith? Um, Earth to Keith? You okay there buddy?", asked the male in front of him, effectively taking him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, yeah sorry", he apologized, looking off to the side and scratching the back of his head while trying to hide the light blush that covered his face. He had just meet this person for God sakes! He can't have feelings for someone when he doesn't even know their name, let alone someone he doesn't know is trustworthy. That reminded him, "So, you know my name but I don't know your's", he stated trying to sound as normal as possible, but he highly doubted that he did.

"Uhh, its Lance, Lance McClain".

"That's a nice name."

"Hah, you think? I don't know, I guess it sounds pretty normal to me".

"I guess to you it does, but to someone who was known as a serial number for most of their life having people call you by a name is something that I really miss".

"Oh, I'm sorry", Lance apologized while looking down. He never realized how much he had taken being called by his name for grated until he had met Keith. "Is it okay if I take off your bandages to clean up your injuries?"

"Yeah sure do what you need. Trust me when I say that you are doing a lot more than the so called 'doctors' would have done", Keith answered.

Keith proceeded to stare off while Lance carefully removed his bandages and finally get a look at his surroundings. The apartment was relatively decent sized, that is going off of what he remembered of them. The front door seemed to lead straight into the living room, a small kitchen was off to the right and was separated by a small wall from the rest of the apartment, there were also two doors off on ether side of the living room to which he guessed led to bedrooms.

"Uhh, I'm sorry to ask this but could you, um, take off your gown thing? The bandages go under it and I need to see how bad your injuries are". Lance looked uncomfortable asking the question, but Keith didn't mind. He had to constantly strip for the scientist back at the labs so to him this was normal. Keith had lost his sense of privacy the minute he was taken off the street twelve years ago. Then again the people he had gotten undressed for were scientists and not normal people which is why he should have expected Lance's reaction to what he did next.

Lance's eyes bulged out of his head as he watched Keith stand from his spot on on the couch and proceeded to strip in front of him. The first thing that he noticed was the look on Keith's face. He looked as if this was a normal thing for him to do, which surprised Lance since he never got used to changing in front of others, not even in the locker room. The next thing he realized was that Keith was not wearing anything under his hospital gown.

"Whoa! Whoa! Keith you can't just..."

Keith looked up at Lance with confusion swimming in his violet eyes, which then widened as he realized his mistake. He quickly grabbed his discarded hospital gown and covered the front of his body. He looked down to try and hide the rapidly growing blush that was covering his face.

"Sorry..."

"No, no. Your alright I just didn't expect you to, uh, do that", Lance reassured him. He too was trying to hide his own crimson face. Now that Keith was covered, or at least partially covered, he glanced back at him to try and asses his injuries. His blush instantly disappeared as his eyes landed on Kieth. The state of his body as far worse than he originally tough. He had bandages all over his body. Barely any of his torso was visible through the blood soaked gauges covering him. "Jesus Christ Keith! What did they do to you back there?"

"I... I don't want to talk about it. I'm sorry", Keith answered, looking ashamed.

"That's fine, just, can you maybe come into the bathroom so that we don't stain the carpet?"

"Sure".

They made their way into the bathroom with ease. Keith held onto Lance for support as he hobbled around the apartment until they reached their destination, all while trying to hold his clothing on his lower body to keep some decency. Once they reached the bathroom, which was connected to the master bedroom, he stood in the corner while Lance turned on the faucet to the tub. He let it fill up and then helped Keith sit in it. He then handed Keith a wash cloth to which caused Keith to send him a confused look.

"It's for your um...".

"Oh", Keith exclaimed as he realized what it was for. He quickly covered his lap and thanked Lance. He was happy to finally be treated like a person and given respect and privacy after twelve years of feeling like an animal on display.

Lance went back to removing all of the bandages from the small teen. As he saw more of his skin he realized that the purple that covered his face and neck extended all over his body in patches. Without thinking he slowly reached out his hand and traced one of the patches along it's edge. He saw how it contrasted Keith's pail skin and followed the patch all the way down towards Keith's lower back, which was just peaking out of the water. He heard a gasp come from the teen and quickly retracted his wandering hand.

"Sorry, I've just not seen something like this before."

"It's okay. I understand that you must be curious about the patches."

Lance muttered another apology and finished taking off the bandages. Once he had finished he saw that the wounds were similar to those that one would receive if they had been whipped. He quickly grabbed another wash cloth an began cleaning the blood from the cuts. The only indication that Keith was in pain was the slight tensing of his shoulders. When Lance had gotten all of the blood of he helped Keith out of the tub and wrapped a towel around him. He then took him to the guest bedroom and laid him stomach down on the bed. Lance undid the towel from around Keith's shoulders and draped it over his rear, which he tried not to pay too much attention to. He stepped away and went back into the living room to retrieve his next item. Walking back into the room, Keith glanced at the dark bottle that he was holding with curiosity.

"What is that?", he asked with his head slightly bent to one side. Had the circumstances been different Lance would have thought it as cute.

"It's something that you aren't gonna like. Hold still and try not to scream". Lance unscrewed the cap of the hydrogen peroxide and loomed over Keith's back.

"Why would I...". Keith's question was cut off as he let out a blood curdling scream as a cold liquid that burned like acid hit his back. He quickly shoved a hand over his mouth to try and stifle it. His free hand balled a chunk of the sheets and his toes curled with the pain the coursed through his body. His vision went black and the next thing he knew he was unconscious.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

He was running. His small, bare feet slapped against the hard wood in the studio apartment. He turned his head slightly to glance at his pursuer. His eyes blew wide as he saw that they had gained on him. He turned the corner and dashed into the bedroom that he shared with his mother. He scrambled under the bed and tried to steady his breathing. He clutched the material of his shirt and felt his increased heartbeat. He held his breath as a view of his pursuer's feet came into view.

"Where are you?", the person sang out menacingly.

He inched farther back towards the wall. His breaths were steadying now and he was able to lie down flat and motionless. He thought he might make it, that was until a hand wrapped around one of his ankles.

"I have you now little boy".

He screamed as he was drug out from under the bed. His free leg thrashed around in an attempt to free himself. Arms wrapped around his middle and his body tensed as he prepared himself for what was to come. He let out a loud shriek as the hands near his stomach began their assault.

"Mom! Mom, stop! I surrender!", he yelled out between giggles. His mother ended her attack and embraced Keith in a bone crushing hug. He eagerly returned it, nuzzling into her cropped black hair. She pulled his face back to her's and gently kissed his forehead, something that she always did as actions always spoke louder than words to her. Her violet eyes shined with pride as she gazed upon her son.

"You crawled under the bed today. You used to never do that because of the monster that you said was under it. I'm so proud of you", Krolia doted as she wiped some of Keith's bangs out of his face. "Who's my big brave boy?"

"I am!", Keith shouted in his high pitched six year old voice. He jumped into her arms once again. He shut his eyes tight and hugged her. His small hands clung to her navy shirt as he buried his head in her chest and listened to her heartbeat.

"Keith", her voice soothed him and he started to drift off. "Keith...". 'That was odd', he thought. Her voice sounded scared. He shrugged it off and continued to fall asleep. "Keith!" His mother's voice was panicked now. She sounded far way. His eyes shot open in time to see the figure of his mother crumble in his arms like ashes. He panicked and looked around the apartment for her, only it wasn't the apartment anymore. He was now in an alleyway. He saw her, his mom, just a few yards in front of him. She was calling his name and reaching out to him. She was crying. He screamed for her and tried to run towards her only to be stopped. His arms were being held by men. He couldn't see their faces. He looked back towards where his mom was. She was now being dragged into a van, the side her head was bleeding and she was unconscious.

"Mom!", he yelled. He struggled against his captors' hold. "Let go of me! What did you do to her? What did you do to my mom? I said let go of...". His vision went black as a crowbar hit the side of his head.

Lance woke to the sound of screams ringing through the apartment. He bolted upright from his bed and ran towards the sound. As he got closer to the guest bedroom the screaming only got louder. He threw open the door and rushed towards the bed. He looked over the occupant and his heart broke. Keith was curled in the fetal position, clutching the bed sheet, and whimpering. He had tears streaming from his eyes and sweat on his temples.

"Mom", he sobbed out. He curled into himself and whimpered into the pillow. Lance reached out and grasped Keith's shoulder. He lightly shook the smaller teen. When that didn't work he crawled onto the bed and was about to try again when his eyes took in the sight below him. Keith's face was flushed with the heat that he was experiencing. His hair was scattered around the pillow to where it perfectly framed his face and his bangs stuck to his forehead with sweat. His mouth was parted slightly as he let out more whimpers and groans.

'Get a grip Lance!', Lance scolded himself internally. Lance took hold of Keith's shoulders again and shook him a little harder. "Keith?". Just as he finished calling the small teen's name said person's eyes flew open and Lance had to leap off of the bed in order to not get hit in the head as Keith jolted upwards. When Lance regained his senses he immediately walked back over to the side of the bed. Keith was panting so hard that it sounded as if he had just ran a mile. His eyes were dilated and they scanned frantically around the room. Lance put a hand on his back which caused the dark haired teen to jolt slightly.

"Hey, are you okay? I heard you screaming and I got worried".

"Yeah. I'm fine", Keith stated between breaths. "It was just a nightmare". It was in that moment that Keith's eyes decided to take in the scene in front of him. Lance's hair was thrown about in the most breathtaking bed head he had ever seen. His blue eyes sparkled with worry. Keith took in a deep breath and held it as his eyes follow his exposed torso all the way down to his blue flannel pants. He felt his face heat up as he gazed upon perfectly tanned skin and beautifully sculpted muscle. He would have never guessed that the Cuban boy hid all of this under his clothes. He had the literal body of a god, right down to the perfectly toned abs. Keith swallowed thickly as he took them in and he felt his groin tighten. 'Oh God no, please anything but this right now', he thought as he tried to subtly hide the growing bulge in his borrowed boxers.

"Keith are you sure that you are okay? You're spacing out there buddy. Do you need anything?", Lance asked, concern lacing his voice.

"Yep! Completely fine. I don't need anything. Everything is just great".

"Alright. If you say so". With that Lance turned around and started to make his way to the door until he felt a small hand grab his wrist. He glanced behind him to see Keith looking down at the floor.

"On second thought, could you...um... could you stay with me? You don't have too if you don't want to, it's just that, I don't like being alone after having one. I tend to have panic attacks, but no one at the labs ever cared so I just sat through them".

Keith looked utterly defeated. Lance's heart melted at the sight. He knew what it was like to have a nightmare. He understood the panic and fear that could overtake someone after waking up from one. Without a second thought, Lance strode back over to the bed. He gave a very confused looking Keith a reassuring smile as he crawled under the covers. Keith quickly moved to give the Cuban teen room in the bed, but found that said teen wanted to be as close to him as possible.

Eventually they settled into a comfortable position. Lance was on his back with Keith curled into his side. The black haired teen rested his head on Lance's chest, right over his heart. Lance had his arms around Keith's back and was slowly running his hands through his hair. He remembered how his mother would often do the same thing whenever he was a child. She would even sing to him in Spanish to help lull him to sleep. The action had always calmed him down and helped him go to sleep. For Keith the position was having the opposite effect. He was currently having a mental breakdown as his head laid on Lance's toned chest. He could feel the heat coming off of his tan skin and his steady heartbeat rang in his ears. He should, no, he had to calm himself down. Trying to focus on anything to keep his mind off of the current situation in his nether region.

Without realizing it, Keith had started to focus in on Lance's heartbeats. They were oddly calming and he was starting to relax. He closed his eyes and listened to the rhythmic thumping. He started to fall asleep as he felt the light sensation of Lance carding his fingers through his hair. He shifted closer to Lance and tentatively put an arm around his waist. When he seemed to give no argument against the act Keith relaxed again. He slowly drifted of to sleep, a low rumble coming from somewhere deep in his throat. Lance glanced down at him and smiled softly. He liked the sound that was coming from Keith, though he figured that the smaller male didn't know that he made such a noise since he was fast asleep. Lance stopped his fingers in Keith's hair and opted to just hold him instead. He was actually comfortable and he too quickly fell asleep with Keith in his arms.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Lance woke up to his phone ringing. He tried to sit up only to be stopped by something weighing him down. He took a glance down to see a pair of fluffy, lavender ears atop a mop of sprawled out, black hair. He smiled at the scene in front of him. Keith was curled up along Lance's side with his head resting on Lance's chest. He had an arm around the Cuban teen's waist and one of his legs were entangled with Lance's. A blush spread across his face at the unintended intimacy that the position suggested.

He opted to leave his phone were it was for now rather than risking waking up Keith. He rested his head back on the pillow and slowly started carding his hand through the soft, black locks of the still sleeping teen. He started to think back to the events of the day before. He had learned of a high end company using human experimentation to create living weapons that they called Gulra, he had met the one of them, he outran and dodged bullets, he had freed said Gulra, and lastly he learned just how human the teen that he saved was. Lance made a silent promise to himself that he would learn the full story of how Keith had come to be in Dai corp's clutches.

Keith stirred slightly. He groaned in denial of waking up and pressed himself closer to the warmth that was near him. Lance chuckled at his antics. His phone started ringing again so he carefully slipped out from underneath Keith and grabbed his phone. It was Hunk. He hit the answer button and started lazily pacing the room as he waited for the phone to connect. When it finally did his ears were assaulted with the worried voice of his best friend.

"Lance!"

It took him a minute to recover, but he finally answered, " Hey man, what's up?"

"What's up? Lance! What's up is that you are late! Don't you remember? We all had plans to meet Shiro for breakfast this morning! Where are you?"

This woke Lance up right away. "Crap! Man, I completely forgot!" He ran to the dresser and grabbed a dark blue turtleneck and a pair of jeans. "I'm heading there right now" He threw on the sweater and stripped of his flannels, not really caring if Keith woke up and saw him. He pulled on his jeans and ran to the door to get his shoes and jacket. He slipped on his shoes and ran out the door, jacket in hand. Lance quickly hailed a taxi and headed towards the restaurant where everyone was meeting. He paid the driver ad ran into the restaurant. He was greeted by a receptionist. "Um, sorry, I'm here to meet some people they should be here already."

"Hey Lance, over here". It was Pidge. She had her hand waving up from a booth in the back corner of the restaurant. Lance nodded politely to the receptionist and headed over to the group.

"Hey Shiro" he said greeting the older man with a fist bump. "Sorry I'm late, I overslept".

"What! Really?", came the sarcastic voice of Hunk. Lance took a seat beside him.

"Haha very funny". Lance rolled his eyes. "So, Shiro how have you been?"

"Yeah", piped up Pidge from her corner of the booth. "How are you and what's his face doing?"

Shiro chuckled and sipped his coffee. "Me and Adam are doing fine, he actually recently got a job at Dia corp."

Lance perked up at the mention of the company. He was all of a sudden really interested in Shiro's parter.

"Wait a sec", Pidge said. "I thought he was working at the Garrison."

"Yeah", Hunk joined in, " I used to see him all the time walking the halls at the school. He was like, the only way to know about what you were up to since you went of to college and never answer your phone."

Shiro gave off a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry about that, I should really take it off of do not disturb."

"Damn right!", exclaimed Pidge. "Gimme that", she stated, reaching for the older man's phone. She quickly had the device in her hand and started about the task of fixing the problem.

Lance looked at the menu for the restaurant and settled with a simple latte. When their waitress came to check on their table he ordered his drink. He looked around the establishment and let his mind wander. Oddly enough, it wondered to a certain black hair and violet eyed teen who he had left back at his brother's apartment. He hoped that Keith was alright. After all, he never even left a note explaining where he was.

"So, Lance", Shiro's voice brought him out of his thoughts. "How have you been? Seeing anyone?"

Lance flushed at the question. A picture of Keith from the night before came to his mind, all sweaty and desperate. "Me? Uh, no. I'm not seeing anyone right now" he stuttered out.

"Bullshit!"

"Pidge! Language!" Shiro scolded her.

"Oops. Sorry", she smiled innocently. "But come on Shiro. You can't expect me to believe that answer when his face looks like that". She gestured over to Lance to prove her point.

Shiro glanced over to Lance and gave him a reassuring smile that soon morphed into one of sinister nature. "Are you sure you aren't seeing anyone?" He drew out the question in a teasing manor.

Lance's face turned a even darker shade of red at the question. "No I'm not, it's just I have someone that I'm worried about is all." He sulked and sipped at his latte.

"Alright then, I won't press any further", Shiro stated, turning towards Pidge to ask her about her bother Matt.

They continued with their idle conversation until Shiro eventually had to leave. Everyone said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Hunk heading to a date with Shay, Shiro driving back to his campus, and Pidge heading to her part time job. Lance bought a small pastry for Keith as a surprise before hailing a taxi and heading back towards his brother's apartment.

* * *

Keith slowly opened his eyes and tentatively glanced around the room that he was in. The events of the night before came back to him. He blushed as he remembers Lance and how he took care of him and comforted him after his nightmare. He looked to the side where Lance should be but sees that he isn't there. This causes panic to boil up in his chest at rethought of something bad happening to the Cuban teen.

He sniffed the air in the room, trying to find the scent of the boy who helped him. He soon finds the sweet yet slightly spiced smell of the teen and finds that it's stale. Keith slowly gets out of the warm bed, slowly placing his injured leg on the ground to find that it was healed, and followed the scent out of the room in hope of finding Lance. As he walked into the living room he was greeted with a jolt of worry at the sight of it being empty. He looked around almost desperately as he tried to find the Cuban teen. All kinds of scenarios played out in his head. Had Lance been kidnapped? Had he gone back to Dai Corp to tell them that he had Keith?

Keith's heart started to race as the worst possible outcomes started running through his mind. He jumped at the sound of someone at the door. Panicking he looked around for something that he could use to protect himself. He saw a knife rack and quickly grabbed one and waited beside the door to attack the intruder. The door slowly opened and Keith lunged. He pressed the knife warningly against the throat of the person entering the apartment.

Narrowing his eyes he took in the person that he held at knife point. Tan skin that stretched as the person swallowed, dark brown hair that was thrown about messily, and blue eyes blown wide with fear. He dropped the knife and stepped back, breathing heavily at the thought of what he almost did.

"Lance?"

"Y-yeah, it's me".

"I'm sorry. I thought..." His voice shook as he fell to the ground at Lance's feet in shock. "I thought that you were one of them. I could have, I could have...". Hot tears streamed down his face.

"Hey, hey. It's okay", Lance said as he closed the door and kneeled down in front of Keith.

"No it's not!", he shouted, wrapping his arms around himself. "I could have killed you..."

Lance put down his coat and the bag of food he had brought back with him. He tentatively reached for Keith and slowly pulled him into a hug. Wrapping his arms around the small, gulra teen so that he had one hand on his back and the other in his dark hair. He stroked the black locks gently. "But you didn't, and that's what matters".

Keith sucked in a deep breath as his body shook in Lance's hold. He slowly hugged him back and buried his face in his neck, taking in the already familiar scent. He relaxed into the embrace as Lance continued his ministrations on his hair. Taking in whiffs of the Cuban teen's scent calmed him down in a way that he never expected. Soon he was leaning into Lance and nuzzling his face in his neck, attempting to fill his scenes with noting but the smell and feeling of Lance.

"Um, Keith? Buddy? What are you doing?", Lance asked skeptically.

"I'm not sure", he replied, still rubbing on Lance's neck. "It's just helping to calm me down for some reason. I can stop if you want". The reality was that stopping was the last thing that Keith wanted, but he would if it made Lance uncomfortable.

"No, no. It's alright. If this helps then you can continue". Lance blushed slightly at what he just said. He had no idea where this might lead or what might happen between them, but he'll be damned if he didn't try to help the small teen that was currently clinging to him like a lifeline. Slowly moving to sit against the door, Lance pulled Keith into his lap and threaded his hand in the area of hair just behind one of the teen's purple ears.

Keith curled up against Lance once he was given the okay to continue. He rested his head in the crook of the teen's neck so that he could continue smelling the calming scent that he let off. As he got comfortable he felt hands stroking behind one of his ears and hummed happily. He felt comfortable. The kind of homey feeling that one would get from when they visit family for a holiday. He was warm in Lance's strong arms and practically buzzed with happiness. Wait, he wasn't just theoretically vibrating. He was vibrating!

He jumped back from Lance as he realized that a strange purring noise was coming from deep in his chest. His lilac eyes were wide in surprise at the sound that was still coming from him. His purr would start and stop over and over as he looked at Lance frantically asking for help with a pleading look but all he got was laughter.

Lance's eyes lit up as he watched Keith freak out over his own purring. His body shook with the force of his laughs. He closed his eyes and threw his head back as Keith only seemed to get more distressed the longer the sounds went on. He finally opened his eyes again, wiping tears from his eyes and looked back at the boy currently panicking in front of him.

"I'm guessing this is the first time that you've heard yourself purr huh?", Lance asked between giggles.

"How can you think that this is funny?"

"How can I not! You should see your face! It's priceless!", another stream of giggles bubbles up out of Lance.

Keith puffed his cheek out in embarrassment, a light blush covering his cheeks as he looked of to the side. He crossed his arms defiantly, refusing to look back at the Cuban teen in front of him. It wasn't long though before he was glancing back at the laughing ball of energy that was Lance and smiled softly. He let out a small laugh.

"Alright, shut up you big goof". He lightly hit Lance in the arm.

"Okay". Lance took a deep breath to calm himself down from his laughing fit. "Oh I almost forgot", he held up the bag of food, "are you hungry?"

Keith sniffed the bag curiously and felt his mouth water at the delicious smell that came from it. As if on cue his stomach growled loudly. He smiled sheepishly and nodded.

"Alright then, let's get some food into you".


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The rest of Keith and Lance's day was spent lounging around the apartment. They were currently curled up on the couch together. Lance had a blanket thrown over his lap while Keith had his head resting on one of his thighs as Lance carded through his raven hair. The soothing sound of Keith's purr rang through the small living room as an episode of a random show on Netflix played on the television.

Lance's mind wandered around the current events that he had been part of the last few days. He knew that he needed to get more information on what had happened to Keith in the labs throughout his years there, as well as figure out how to expose Dai Corp for their actions against the law. He looked down at the small teen and smiled softly. Kieth's eyes were closed in content and his chest vibrated lightly with his rumbling purr. He was so thin. Lance could only assume that the labs didn't feed him well based on the fact that his ribs were quite visible the last time his shirt was off. Lance then remembered that he should probably change the bandages on Keith. He gently nudged the raven and was soon greeted with the dazzling sight of his lilac eyes. He smiled brightly.

"Hey buddy, mind if I change your bandages and get a look at your wounds?"

Keith nodded and slowly got up, heading to the bathroom. Lance followed him in and grabbed the first aid kit from where he had left it the night before. As Lance pulled out the supplies that he needed Keith took off his borrowed shirt and sat on the tiled floor, shivering slightly at the cooled surface. His ears picked up at the sound of something vibrating in the living room. He looked up at Lance who didn't seem to hear it.

"Uh, Lance... I think your phone is ringing", he said, pointing towards the living room.

"Ah, thanks", the tan boy replied as he walked out to get his phone.

When he returned he was talking in Spanish. Keith tilted his head to the side as he tried in vain to figure out what was being said. When Lance hung up he looked down at Keith with a worried look. This made Keith tense up and his brow furrow.

"That was my brother," he started. "He said that he is coming home tomorrow morning from his trip and needs me out of the apartment."

Keith looked up at him and his ears dropped slightly. "What does that mean for me?"

Lance smiled at him in encouragement. "It just means that you will be coming to my place, no biggy. I'll just tell my mom that I'm bringing a friend over for a while. Don't worry. I'll make up a story for why you need to stay with us." He winked at Keith and knelt down in front of him.

"Okay", Keith replied, still not entirely sure. He extended his arm to Lance so that he could start working on getting the bandages off.

The Cuban teen slowly undid the gauze around his arms and back. He took a warm washcloth to the wounds to clean the remaining dried blood off, finding that they were now little more than simple scratches like one would get from a cat. He inspected the area around them and found traces of scar tissue forming along the edges. As he applied an antiseptic he took in the vast amount of scars that littered the pale skin under his hands. Keith had so many. Some of them even overlapped others.

'What have you been through?', he wondered as he wrapped fresh gauze around the teen in front of him. As he worked his was around his torso with the roll of gauze he took notice of the purple patches on the raven's skin. They seemed to be located sporadically around him and not spreading from one particular area. Most of them were on his torso and arms, but one particularly big patch started at his neck and curled up onto his cheek.

"Alright. All done", he said as he started to pick up the small mess he had made in the bathroom.

Keith turned to examine his handiwork and smiled softly at the care that the brunet teen had given to him. He turned and picked up his discarded shirt to put it back on only to be stopped by Lance. He looked up at him in confusion, his head tilting to the side slightly.

"We should probably leave that here. My brother would be pissed to find that some of his cloths are missing".

"Ahh, okay...". He handed the shirt to Lance and waited for further instructions in what to do.

Lance smiled gratefully at him and took his hand to help pull him up. They walked to the master bedroom, Lance still holding Keith's small hand, not that Keith would point it out. Keith sat in the bed as the Cuban teen went about the room, cleaning it and gathering what little things he had brought. He had luckily left a spare pair of shorts at the apartment the last time he visited and handed them to Keith, who gratefully took them. As Keith changed into the shorts Lance grabbed a small bag and put his dirty jeans and shirt inside. He turned to inspect Keith and noticed how he still had no shirt to wear. He grabbed his jacket and tossed it at Keith, who caught it. After they were both dressed Lance took notice of how the small teen had no shoes. His brother didn't have any spares and neither did he.

"Sorry, but I don't have any shoes for you", he said, looking down in shame.

"It's okay", Keith responded. He smiled softly and continued,"I never wear shoes anyway". He chuckled softly at his statement as if it was some form of inside joke.

Lance was not impressed. He put a finger to his chin and hummed in thought. After a minute or two he reached a conclusion and picked up the bag at his feet. Keith perked up at his movement and followed him out of the door to the living room. He watched as Lance pulled on his shoes and pocketed his phone. He unlocked the door and stepped out of the apartment. Keith started to walk out as well when Lance suddenly turned and scooped him up, causing the pale teen to let out a yelp.

Keith clung to Lance, afraid of being dropped despite knowing that the teen can easily hold his weight. Lance chuckled at his antics and closed the door to start walking to the street to hail a taxi. Soon the two of them were on their way to Lance's house. Keith glanced out of the window to get a look at the city that he hadn't seen since he was 6. He watched as the buildings and small parks all blurred together into streaks of color and light. He watched as people on the sidewalk talked and went about their daily busyness. He wondered what they did. Did they have families that they looked forward to seeing at the end of the day, or were they like him? Were they too unable to see their parents and relatives for reasons unknown to the rest of the world?

He turned to glance at the tan boy beside him. Lance was on the phone, once again talking in Spanish. He gestured with his hands every so often as if the person in the other end of the line could see him. Keith found a small comfort in the sounds that would come out of the brunette's mouth. His rolling r's and rhythms that he unconsciously created soothing the unnerved teen. He looked back out the window as the taxi turned down a small road to a neighborhood.

"Bien, gracias mamá. Te veré pronto. También te amo. Adiós"

Keith looked at Lance expectantly. The Cuban teen smiled. "That was my mom. She said you can stay as long as you need".

"Okay. I'll make sure to thank her".

Lance waved his hand nonchalantly. "No need. She loves helping out people".

"Alright, if you say so...". He focused on the road again as they turned into a small neighborhood.

The taxi pulled up outside a decently sized house and parked. Lance thanked him and paid the fee. Keith hesitantly got out of the car, the grass of the lawn tickling his bare feet. Lance climbed out behind him and lead him to the front door. He glanced back at the raven and gave him a reassuring smile. Keith took in a deep breath and tensed as Lance opened the door.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The sight that greeted Keith was not what he had expected. A small statured woman with curly brown hair and lightly tanned skin greeted them in the doorway with a smile that stretched to her sparkling blue eyes. Keith took in the sight behind the woman where many others were standing. Lance left his side to go hug the woman. After a few seconds he turned back to Keith smiling, an arm around the brunette's shoulder.

"Keith this is my mama Carmen." Keith awkwardly waved at her, a shy smile on his face. Waving clearly wasn't going to cut it for her as the woman was soon approaching Keith, opening her arms to hug him. He awkwardly reciprocated the hug by lightly wrapping his arms around the small woman. The raven haired teen looked over to Lance with a worried expression to the which the brunette just smiled encouragingly at in reply. Finally, Carmen seemed to have enough and backed away to get a better look at Keith. She reached one of her hands out and gently traced the outline of one of Keith's purple patches, her eyes squinted in concentration. Realization flashed in her sky blue eyes and she turned to Lance. Panic flared in Keith's stomach as she opened her mouth to speak.

"Mijo, you never said I'd get to see your friend's work in person!"

Keith looked over to Lance in confusion only to be met with the teen's bright smile. He tilted his head slightly in question, hoping to receive an answer. Lance winked at him quickly then turned to address his mom.

"He ended up needing to practice a look for a short film his class is working on and didn't have time to take the makeup off before leaving so now you get to see what he works on". After Lance was done speaking Keith still had no clue what was going on. He stiffened as Carmen directed her attention to him once again.

"It looks amazing!", she exclaimed. "I thought it was your real skin. Your attention to detail was stunning. And those ears. I could have sworn that I saw them move. They are so lifelike."

"Uh, well they are this new technology that the robotics club built for him", Lance explained. "They, uh, have these sensors that connect to your brain activity to make them move".

"Ahhh, fascinating. Well do come in". She gestured inside the house.

The two teens stepped through the doorway and into the house. Keith moved close to Lance and lowered his voice as he asked, "What is she talking about?".

The Cuban teen showed him his radiant smile once more as he leaned in to whisper, " I told her that you were in the film club and specialized in prosthetics and make up. It just so happens that they are currently working on a short film, so it was the perfect cover story".

"Okay,but that still doesn't explain why she's letting me stay at your house".

"It was explained to her that your house had some electrical problems and you would need to stay here for a while until they got fixed".

Keith nodded at his explanation. It seamed believable enough. As they walked through the house the raven finally took the time to look at his surroundings. The house was modestly decorated and had a comfortable atmosphere to it. Pictures of people that he could only assume were Lance's family hung on the walls and decorated the small side tables in the living room, which housed some of the most comfortable looking couches Keith had ever seen. The air smelled of seasoned meats and something sweet which caused his mouth to water as the promise of a good meal. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten anything that wasn't the unknown goo that the lab had fed him. As he bent down to inspect one of the pictures that was closes to him his ever sensitive ears picked up the sound of footsteps coming down the hall. He lifted his head up just in time to see a girl come around the corner. Her bright, sapphire eyes were framed by a pair of rectangular glasses and her curly brown hair bounced at her shoulders with every step she took. She had a warm smile stretching across her face and she was comfortably dressed in a pair of gray sweatpants and an orange shirt. As the girl approached them her arms lifted up in an invitation, to which Lance instantly took.

"Ronnie!", he exclaimed as he launched himself at her. They almost toppled over as the teen collided into the girl who was clearly not prepared for the assault.

"Hey Lance! Long time no see", she said with a giggle, ruffling the hair of the brunet in front of her.

"Ha ha, very funny. You saw me a day ago", Lance stated with a roll of his eyes.

"I know but I didn't have anyone to make fun of and it was so _boring". _

_"_Ouch that hurt".

"Oh please you know you would be bored too if I was gone for a few days. Speaking of which, where did you run off to? Did my little brother actually score a date and get laid for once?".

Lance's face lit up with the deepest blush Keith had ever been witness to. The Cuban teen rubbed the back of his neck and looked off to the side, refusing to make eye contact anyone in the room.

"Veronica", Carmen said in a warning tone, "We do not speak that way in this house".

"Yeah, yeah. Oaky mom". she turned back to Lance. "So who is the lucky girl, or guy, because its so clear that you are bi bro. Tell me!"

"Ronnie its not like that I swear!", he exclaimed. He looked over to Keith with a look that said something along the lines of 'help me' in it but before he cold do anything Veronica saw where Lance was looking and her face lit up with mischief. She bounced over to Keith and literally bent down so that she could be eye level with him. 'Why are all of these people so tall' he thought.

"So you're the guy that my brother lost his V-card to eh? I have to say you are a lot shorter than I would have thought, but who am I to judge my brother's tastes".

It was now Keith's turn to blush. He quickly started shaking his head in denial, waving his hands in the air. "I'm not... We aren't...", he stuttered out an attempt at an explanation but couldn't get his words to come out properly. he wasn't even sure if he was speaking English at this point with how flustered he was.

"Veronica we didn't do anything! We were working on a project at the library and ran late into the night so instead of trying to hail a taxi that late we just went to Luise's place. Nothing happened", Lance barked out. The volume of his voice was loud and made Keith cringe at the sound. He still looked embarrassed but there was another emotion swirling in his eyes. Anger? Annoyance? Whatever it was the raven was glad that it wasn't directed at him.

"There you go, nothing happened between them and you can now leave the poor boys alone". Keith had completely forgotten the Carmen was in the room and was now blushing more at the knowledge that she had heard all of the embarrassing things that Veronica had said and asked him. He looked at her and saw that she was standing with her arms crossed and a look of agitation on her face.

"Yes mama", Veronica said as she darted back down the hallway, almost as fast as she had appeared. Keith let out a sigh of relief when she was gone and looked to Lance who gave him a reassuring smile.

"Now that that whole mess is settled," Carmen stated, turning to them, "You two can go and put your things down and get settled. Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes".

"Gracias mama", Lance said as he kissed her cheek. He picked up the bag he had put down when he hugged his sister and walked over to Keith. "I'll show you to your room", he explained as he put a hand on the small of the smaller teen's back. He led him through the living room and down the hall. They passed a room that was obviously lance's based on the door sign that displayed his name. On it were decals of sharks and surfers, some standing on their boards and others paddling or just sitting on them in the waves. Lance led him to the next door down the hall and opened it. They walked in and Keith took in the sight of the room. It was sparsely decorated with the bare necessities. It had a bed in the center against the back wall. To the right side there was a small night stand with a lamp and a few drawers. The left wall of the room housed a dresser and a small closet. Keith walked in and sat on the bed which was quite comfy, but then again anything was comfortable to him compared to the floor he was provided in his cell at the lab. He watched as Lance made his way over to the dresser and opened one of the drawers. He pulled out a black t shirt with the name of what Keith could only assume was a band on it as well as a pair of red shorts. Walking back over to where the smaller teen sat he laid the cloths on the bed next to him.

"You can change into those", he said. "After you can meet me in my room, its next door, and we can go to the kitchen together for dinner."

"Thank you", Keith timidly said. He reached over and grabbed the shirt and felt it's soft material between his fingers. Hearing a noise, he looked up to see Lance exiting the room. "Where are you going?"

Lance looked taken off guard by his question. "I'm, uh, going to my room", he stated as if it was common knowledge.

"Why?"

"To give you privacy and put my bag up".

"Oh". He should have realized. "Sorry".

The Cuban teen smiled softly. "Its alright. I'll see you in a bit". And with that he left, closing the door behind him.

Keith carefully took off the jacket he borrowed from Lance and laid it on the bed. He pulled on the shirt, careful of the bandages still on his arms and chest, and reached for the shorts. As he put them on he noticed that he had gone out of the apartment in nothing but Lance's jacket and the pair of borrowed boxers he had worn the night before. He prayed to whatever higher power there was that Lance's mom and Veronica hadn't noticed. Grabbing the discarded jacket he headed out the door and towards the room next to his. He knocked on the door and heard a muffled 'come in' from inside. He opened it and was instantly blushing at the sight he saw. Standing there in all his shirtless glory was Lance. He had on a pair of navy joggers that were low on his hips, exposing his v-lines. His abs moved in the most mesmerizing was as he pulled on a tank top. Said tank did not help Keith's current situation as it drew attention to his broad shoulders, toned arms, and collar bone. The small teen swallowed at the sight.

"Earth to Keith", Lance said, bringing Keith back to reality. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts he turned his lilac eyes up to meet the bright blue of Lance's.

"Sorry", he said, tilting is head down to attempt to hide his blush.

"Its alright. So, are you ready for dinner?"

"Sure, but there is one problem".

"What?"

"My ears..."

"Oh!", Lance exclaimed. He made his way over to his closet and pulled out a black hoodie that had the words 'surfs up' written on the front. Walking over to Keith he unzipped the hoodie and handed it to the small, raven haired teen.

Keith put on the hoodie and looked at Lance for confirmation, still not entirely sure what the teen was thinking. The Cuban boy had a hand on his chin and his eyebrows furrowed in thought. He gasped as he apparently got an idea and walked into his bathroom. Keith tilted his head in a silent question as he came back out with a small box in his hands.

"Could you flatten your ears for me?"

"Um, sure", he replied, flattening his purple ears to his black hair. He watched in wonder as Lance pulled out a small, brown object that looked like a stick and held it in his mouth. when he pulled it out he saw that it had split into two. "What is that?"

"This?", he asked, looking down at the object. "Oh its a bobby pin. I'm gonna use it to keep your ears hidden".

"Okay". He held still as he felt the strange sensation of the bobby pin sliding over his velvet ears and pinning them to his head via his hair. lance moved to work on the other ear and when he was done he tested their hold. Surprisingly they held pretty well and Lance deemed them suitable. he reached to the hood that was resting on Keith's shoulders and flipped it up and over Keith's head.

"There", he said. "Now you don't have ears!".

Keith turned to look at himself in the mirror that was hanging on Lance's wall and saw that he looked normal, other than his purple patches of skin. "Thanks".

"No problem. So, are you ready for dinner because I'm starving".

"Me too". They left the room and headed down the hall and into the kitchen. The rest of the night went fairly well and Keith enjoyed his first home cooked meal in years. He felt comfortable and welcome in the house and enjoyed the atmosphere that the McClains created. After dinner they all sat around the table and held conversations varying from work to Veronica asking more embarrassing questions to Keith and Lance. After a few hours everyone headed to their separate rooms for the night. As they reached Lance's room they bid each other good night and went into their respective rooms.

Keith pulled off the hoodie and took the pins out of his hair and let his ears stretch after having them pinned to his head for a good five hours. He crawled into the bed and settled down on the pillows. He went to sleep with the feeling of having a family again and security from the horror he had endured in the labs.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Lance woke up to his usual alarm for school. The sound that his ears had become trained to continuing until he turned it off. As he sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes he thought back to the night before. He smiled as the images of Keith and his family replayed in his mind. The small teen had looked so comfortable around them and it brought a warm and fuzzy feeling to him at the thought that he might have a safe and comfortable place to stay until they figured out this whole mess. He slowly got out of bed and stretched his arms above his head, feeling his vertebrae pop and his exposed skin chill with the cool air. He sighed in content as he walked to his connected bathroom to wash his face and apply moisturizer. The warm water on his face woke him up the rest of the way. He threw on a random band shirt from his dresser and took off his flannel bottoms. He chose a pair of light wash skinny jeans and put them on, zipping them up as he grabbed his usual sneakers from his closet floor. With that he walked out of his room to wake up Keith.

As he opened the door he heard the light breathing of the teen coming from the bed. He quietly walked in and went around the bed to be greeted by the cutest sight he had ever seen. The small raven was curled up and had his head tucked down to where the covers covered his nose. Soft snores could be heard if Lance really concentrated. He almost didn't want to wake him from his peaceful slumber but he knew that he had to so he slowly reached a hand down onto Keith's shoulder and gave him a light shake as he called out his name. The small teen's snores came to a sudden stop as he jolted awake and looked around the room in a panic.

"Hey, hey. Its okay", Lance soothed. "Its just me".

Keith visibly calmed down and relaxed into his pillow again. He rubbed his eyes and Lance couldn't help but smile at the sight. His mouth opened wide as he let out a yawn. Looking back up to Lance he smiled softly. "What is it?", he asked.

"Well, you can't stay here all day because my parents think that you are from my school so you are going to have to come with me today".

"Oh, okay", he said, slowly getting into a sitting position.

"You can use some of the cloths from the dresser if you want and then I can pin your ears down".

"Sounds good". Keith slowly moved from the bed and went to inspect the drawers for suitable clothing. When he opened the drawers he found that most of the clothing was black. He looked back at Lance with a questioning gaze.

"Ahh", he said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand as a soft blush crept into his cheeks. "You see, I had some what of an emo phase a few years back. I just moved all of the cloths into here in case I ever decided to wear them again".

Keith nodded and deemed his answer as acceptable. He chose a black t-shirt with a scull on it and a pair of ripped, black jeans. He removed his shirt, careful of his bandages, and heard shuffling behind him. Peaking around he saw that Lance had turned his back to him to give him some privacy. He blushed at his carelessness, he would have to fix that bad habit of his soon. Pulling the shirt the rest of the way down his torso and quickly pulled on the jeans. They were comfortable and soft, a hint as to how much the teen behind him had worn them in their prime. He cleared his throat and turned to face Lance. The brunette looked him over, Keith feeling suddenly bashful at being put on the spot.

"You need shoes".

"Yeah, I just wasn't sure where they were".

"They are in the closet. Here I think I might know a pair that will fit you". With that he walked over to the closet and bent down. There was a sound of rummaging and things being thrown aside. Soon the Cuban teen was walking back over to Keith with a pair of black combat boots in his hands. "Here you go".

"Thank you". He quickly put them on. They were well broken in and comfortable on his feet. He had worried about how his feet would take shoes after not wearing them for twelve years but nothing seamed to have changed. He looked back up to lance for approval.

"Those look good on you", he said, nodding. "You can keep them if you want".

"Are you sure?"

"Yep. I don't wear them anymore and plus they are too small for me any way".

"Thank you", he said, blushing softly

"Its no problem". He quickly pinned the purple ears down to his head and handed him the hoodie that Keith decide to wear unzipped for the time being. "Now, are you up for some breakfast?"

"Yes, I'm starving".

"Then", he said, opening the door and gesturing for Keith to go out. "Shall we go my good sir?". The two teens descended into laughter as they exited the room and walked towards the kitchen.

"Buenos dias mama", Lance said as they entered the kitchen.

"Buenos dias mijo", came her reply from the stove. Lance lead them to the table they had sat at the night before and they took their places. Keith's mouth watered at the smell of the food that the older woman was cooking.

"Smells amazing mama", Lance said.

"Gracias, I hope you boys are hungry because I made quite the spread this morning".

"Aww, you didn't have to", Lance said from the table.

"Nonsense! After seeing how thin your friend is there is no way I'm not going to give him the best and most fattening breakfast that I can make".

Keith blushed at her statement. He had hopped that she and the other members of lance's family hadn't noticed his small physique with the hoodie that he wore the night before but apparently they could see right through it. He figured that if he was to start gaining back all of the weight he dad lost over the years there was no better place to do it than at the McClain household.

"Good morning", came a dep voice from the entrance of the kitchen. Everyone turned to see Lance's father coming into the room where everyone was starting to gather. He walked over to the coffee pot and poured him a cup then went over to his wife and kissed her cheek. Keith smiled sadly at the scene. His father had passed away from his job working in the line of a firefighter. Him and his mother had since been left on their own in the center of the city, which probably made them an easy target to the labs. He shook his head to clear his thoughts in time to see Mr. McClain joining him and Lance at the table. "My boy what is with the purple splotches still on your face?", he asked, looking at Keith in a confused manner.

"Oh, um...", he said as he reached up to touch his face where the purple curled onto his cheek. He had completely forgotten that he still had the patches on his skin and looked to Lance frantically for help. The teen seamed to understand and instantly jumped into action.

"He left his remover at school in the drama rooms", he stated. "He will be able to remove it when he gets back to school".

"Okay", came is father's reply

"Alright boys eat up", said Carmen as she laid plates of food out in front of them. "You know that you won't have much once Veronica and the others come down".

"Don't I know it", Lance said as he reached for the food in front of him. It all smelled heavenly to Keith. There were pancakes, eggs, sausage, and bacon. He reached for a pancake and put it on his plate as well as a strip of bacon and a scoop of the eggs. He buttered his pancake and poured some syrup onto it, the thick liquid running off the sides and onto the rest of his plate. The last time he had had a pancake was with his mother three days before their abduction. He took a bite and moaned at the taste, his eyes closing in delight. After noticing how quiet the room had gotten he opened his eyes and looked around. Lance's parents were looking at him in confusion while lance looked like he was about to combust from how red his face was.

He ducked his head down in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I just haven't had pancakes in a long time and these taste just like how my mom made them".

"That's alright", said Lance's mom. She smiled as she sat down next to her husband. "Have as mush as you want".

"Thank you", he replied, starting to eat his food again and remaining conscious to not make any more unwanted sounds.

"Who made Lance's face as red as a tomato", came the tell tale voice of Veronica from the doorway.

"Shut up!", Lance replied as his face got even redder.

"Oh let me guess. It was Keith wasn't it", she continued as she took her seat at the table.

Lance threw a piece of bacon at her that she caught and instantly put in her mouth, a smile on her face the whole time. They bantered for a few more minutes until their parents made them settle down. Veronica stopped her jabs at Lance and started loading up her plate with food. The conversation at the table then switched over to Veronica and her studies in college as they all continued their meal. The rest of the family filed in one after the other as the morning went on and soon the whole table was full.

"You ready to head out?", Lance asked Keith. He was standing up from his place and grabbing his plate and utensils.

"Sure", he replied, taking his plate into his hands as well and following Lance to the sink. They dropped their plates and forks into the sink and started walking out of the kitchen. Lance kissed his parents on their cheeks and gave the rest of his family hugs as he bid them farewell. Keith waved awkwardly as he followed his friend out of the room and down the hallway. lance went into his room and grabbed his book bag and they went to the front of the house. They said goodbye to the family one last time then stepped out the door and headed towards the sidewalk.

"So what am I going to do while you are at school?", Keith asked.

"I was thinking you could maybe you could hang out in the park across the street from my school". he replied.

"Sounds good to me".

They continued down the sidewalk for a few more minutes until they came to the end of the street where the road was busy. Keith watched as the cars and other vehicles drove past them, the wind that they created ruffling his bangs. He watched as Lance pulled out his phone and typed something on it.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm texting my friends that I won't be on the buss this morning".

"Do you normally take the buss?"

"Yeah but since I have you to take care of we are going to take a cab today".

Keith looked down at the ground. He felt like a burden to Lance and he didn't like that he was inconveniencing him. A hand on his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts.

"Hey, don't feel bad about it", Lance said with a smile on his face. "I want to do this and its not that big of a deal".

"If you say so..."

Lance smiled brighter and it reached his blue eyes. Keith smiled back as he couldn't help but feel better with a sight as bright as the teen's smile in front of him. After a few minutes they were finally able to hail a cab and head to the school. The ride there was uneventful and Keith found that he liked the quiet time with Lance just as much as he enjoyed the times that they talked. Soon they were pulling up to the school and getting out of the cab. Lance paid the driver and thanked him. The cab drove off and the two were left alone again.

"The park is right there",Lance stated. Keith followed the direction that his finger was pointing to see that across the street there was, in fact, a park. It has swings and a play set. There was a wooded area that looked to have trails that led into it that interested Keith. Towards the far left there was a basket ball and tennis court area.

"Thank you for doing this", Keith said. "It really means a lot".

"Its no problem at all man. I couldn't have just let you stay in that place. Who knows what they would have done to you next".

Keith smiled at the teen in front of him. Lance smiled back and gave him a quick hug that Keith instantly reciprocated. "I'll see you at lunch. I'll bring you something to eat so that you aren't starving when we get back home".

"Okay. See you then". With that Lance started to walk towards the school and Keith crossed the street to the park. He decided to head for the trails to see where they lead him. And with that his first day outside in twelve years began.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

As he made his way through the entrance doors of the large school he thought back to Keith and worried slightly about how safe he will be for the day. He knew that Dai Corp had to be looking for their missing weapon, especially considering all of the money that they would have had to put into the funding of such a thing. He still couldn't believe that their employees thought that the subjects had consented willingly. If only they saw the condition that he had found Keith in. He shuddered that the memory of the teen's small, pale body shivering in a corner and surrounded by his black blood as he clutched his broken leg to his chest. The thoughts continued to run through his head as he mad his way to his Locker. Opening his locker he put away the books from his bag that he didn't need for the day and grabbed the ones that he did. A sudden hand on his shoulder startled him to the point that he dropped the book he currently had in his hand.

"Hey man", came the tell tale voice of Hunk behind him.

"Jesus Hunk you scared the shit out of me!", he exclaimed as he turned around to face his friend.

"Not my fault that you are too busy thinking up a storm to notice when we come around", the taller teen chuckled out.

"Speaking of which", said Pidge as she appeared around Hunk, picking up Lance's dropped book. "What has you all distracted today?".

"Its nothing, just worrying about the test first hour is all", he replied, taking the book from Pidge.

"You never worry about tests in Gibb's class. Something is up", Hunk said.

"Oh I know. its a boy isn't it? You finally got laid!", Pidge yelled out.

"You guys are just as bad as Ronnie", he said with an exhausted sigh. "But yes I am worried about a guy and no I did not get laid."

"Damn, I finally thought you had lost your v-card", Pidge said, looking somewhat disappointed.

"I probably won't ever get laid with my current romantic streak"

"Aww don't say that man. You'll get someone soon", Hunk consoled as he put a hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks but I've just accepted my fate at this point". Both of his friends shared a glance and looked back at him with concern. Pidge broke the awkward silence that followed.

"So why are you worried about this guy?"

"Its kind of complicated", he replied.

"Then just give us the main point", Hunk said.

"Well, lets see. How do I explain this? He's had a rough life for the past twelve years and he has finally escaped the place that was causing all of the problems but I fear that the people that were hurting him are going to come looking for him."

"Shit, that is rough", Pidge said, adjusting her glasses.

"Yeah, that is. I hope he is safe and gets through it", Hunk added.

"Me too". Just as he finished speaking the bell rang and signaled to them that It was time to head to class. The group of friends all went to their respective classes. Lance took his seat in his class just as his teacher walked through the door. His teacher, Mr. Gibb, looked as tired as he always did. His graying hair was thin and his hazel eyes lacking the spark of youth that they once had. His usual attire of a button down with a sweater vest on top and a pair of khaki pants with brown dress shoes showed how he preferred to still look presentable. He greeted the class with his usual 'good morning' and turned on the small television in the corner of the room so that they could watch the morning announcements for the school day. Lance started to dose off as he usually did with the boring program until a certain sentence caught his attention.

"In light of the recent trip that our Biology classes took to Dai Corp we have news that we received from the labs there. After the group of our students left the premises a test subject from their genetics lab was stolen. This subject was part of their research on combining the genetics of animals with humans to create living weapons. The weapon is known as a Galra and is of extreme value to the company. If anyone has any whereabouts on the subject or has information regarding if they saw someone leaving with the subject please contact the company via their phone number, email, or one of the investigators they have sent out to look for the Galra."

'Shit' Lance thought as he listened to the message. They were looking for Keith and there were investigators out in the town searching for him at this very moment. He was suddenly very worried about Keith and his safety in the park. Anyone could come in at any moment and pick him up. It wouldn't be hard to determine that he was the missing subject with his purple patches of skin. They could throw him in the back of a truck and lock him right back up into his cell for the rest of his life and Lance would have been able to do nothing to save him. He decided that if Keith was still at the park at lunch he would tell him and make sure that he stayed safe until the day was over. After that he would stay at his place for as long as they could get away with.

The rest of his classes went by so slow that lance though that time must have just stopped at some point in the day. When the lunch bell finally rang he quickly went to the cafeteria to get some food. He pocketed his apple and half of his burger in a paper back then headed to the park. He found Keith sitting on a swing and drawing in the dirt with a stick as he slowly rocked back and forth.

"Hey buddy", he said, waving his hand in greeting. Keith looked up at him and smiled. His purple eyes sparkled with joy. "I brought you some lunch". He watched as the small teen's nose sniffed the air as he pulled out the bag of food. He handed it to him and watched as the raven looked inside. He pulled out the half of the burger and took a bite.

"Thanks, this is really good".

"Its no problem at all". Lance joined him on the swing next to the one he was sitting on and waited patiently for him to finish his meal. When he was done he decided it was time to tell him the news. "So, Dai Corp is out looking for you"

He watched as panic flared up in Keith's eyes but he had to continue. "They sent out investigators and are asking anyone who may know about your whereabouts to contact them".

"You're going to turn me in aren't you", Keith said with a hurt expression on his face.

"No!", he immediately exclaimed. "I would never do that to you. I just thought I should tell you so that you know that they are out looking for you".

"Oh. Thank you. I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions", the teen said, visibly relaxing.

"I just want you to be safe for the next few hours, don't trust anyone too easily."

"Okay. I won't"

"Good, I'm also going to have you stay at my house while I'm at school until things calm down."

"Sounds like a plan".

"Alright. I guess I'll see you in a bit. I need to get back to school"

"Okay, I'll see you then". They parted with a hug and Keith watched as Lance walked back to his school. Keith went back to swinging for a few minutes but eventually got tired of the action and decided to go walk the trails again. He had enjoyed it and was able to see a few animals he hadn't seen in years while walking them. he also just genuinely enjoyed the shade and sights that the wooded trails offered. As he made his way towards the start of the trails he felt his hoodie get pulled softly. He looked behind him and then down as he felt it get tugged softly for a second time. He was met with wide, green eyes and the big smile of a young girl. Her red curls were pulled up into pick tails and she wore a bright blue dress and black flats.

"Excuse me mister", she said, " could you play with me? My mommy won't because she said she is too busy with work". He followed her sad gaze to an older woman sitting on a bench with her phone to her ear as she talked hurriedly into its microphone. He looked back down at the small girl and saw her pleading expression. So what, he was weak and couldn't say no to her cute face.

He knelt down in front of her and replied, "Sure. What would you like to play?". The girl's face lit up with joy as she told him the game and pulled him by his hand towards the playset.

* * *

Lance spent the rest of the day a little calmer and with the firm knowledge that Keith could take care of himself. He was healed after all and he had shown on more than one occasion that he knew how to fight back if he needed to. He was able to go back to his usual carefree self and enjoy his time with his friends. By the time the final bell rang Lance was feeling better and much more at ease than he had in the start of the day. He went to his locker and dropped off his unneeded books then headed to the front of the school. Telling Hunk and Pidge goodbye, he went to the park. He looked around for Keith and got nervous when he couldn't spot him. Frantically looking around all of the worst possible outcomes came to mind. The investigators had found him, someone had turned him in, he had failed him. He was about to shout his name when he heard laughter coming from the direction of the playset. Slowly walking over he saw a sight that he had never though was possible. Keith was running after a little girl and laughing. His face was lit up in the most beautiful smile Lance had ever seen. The little girl giggled as she was chased. She rounded the corner and saw Lance. Her eyes lit up with an idea as she made a b-line for the Cuban teen. All the while Keith chased after her. She hid behind Lance once she got to him and giggled as Keith stopped in front of him.

Keith was panting heavily with the exertion of chasing the small child. He looked up at Lance and smiled at him, causing the brunette to blush lightly as the affection was aimed at him. The girl ran around Lance and hugged Keith's hip, looking up at lance curiously.

"Who is that?", she asked Keith.

"That is Lance", he responded.

"Hi Lance", she said with a smile

"Hi there", Lance replied.

They talked for a few minutes, mostly the girl though as the two teenage boys found her adorable to listen to. They were soon stopped as the girl's mother called her over. She pouted but eventually went to her mother, giving to two teens a hug each in farewell. As the pair left the park they waved to Keith and Lance who waved right back to them.

"She was cute", Lance said.

"She was wasn't she".

"Almost makes me want to have kids". Keith looked at him as if he had just dropped from the sky. "I said _almost". _

The two laughed for a few moments before they walked to the street to hail a cab. After a few minutes they were in one and heading away from the school.

"We have a stop to make before we get back to the house", Lance said.

"Where?"

"A store to get you something to cover up your purple".

"Okay". With that they headed to a place that Lance called Sephora.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

They entered the store that smelled of heavily sweetened products and had powder in the air. The overly potent smell making Keith's sensitive nose itch and the substances in the air causing his eyes to water. He followed Lance through the store as they headed towards the back of the brightly lit building. There were posters on the walls displaying women and men wearing colored powders on their eyelids and different shades of pinks and reds on their lips. Keith admired their beauty as he followed the teen in front of him. Lance turned to a display case that had different colored liquids in many differently shaped bottles. He watched with curiosity as the brunette picked up a few and examined them.

"Hello gentlemen. May I help you?", came a cheerful voice from behind them. The duo turned to around to see a woman standing be hind them with a bright smile on her face. She had dark blue hair that curled around her face in a bob. He eyes donned a light pink powder and a simple cat eye liner. Her lashes were covered in a light layer of mascara and her on her lips were a light pink gloss. She wore a black dress that stopped above her knees. The sleeves stopped at her elbows and there was a red accent stripe that went across the collar of the dress and down the sleeves on the side. Lance moved from around Keith so that he could talk to the woman.

"Hi, yes. My friend here had an accident with some paint and it kind of stained his skin. We were wondering if you had any foundation that would be able to help cover it up?"

The woman looked around Lance so that she could see Keith. Her eyes widened as she took him in. He waved sheepishly at her. "That is quite the stain you have there", she said. "Luckily I have just the product for you". She turned around to lead them across the store. As the two teen followed her Keith got a whiff of the scent she had. It was light and flowery, which he defiantly enjoyed compared to the overpowering and sweet scents of the other bottled oils in the store. She led them to another display and grabbed a few bottles of more liquid. She opened one the the bottles and put some of the liquid on her finger. Keith held out his hand for her after she gestured for it. He watched in wonder as she spread the product on his hand in a line. She repeated the process with the remaining colors that she had then examined his hand. She nodded to herself as she grabbed a box off the shelf behind her.

"There you go sir", she said, handing the box to him, "the best match in the group". Keith looked down at his hand and noticed that one of the lines matched his pail skin perfectly. His eyes widened in wonder and looked up at the woman in amazement and then to Lance. He responded to him with laughter.

"Yeah, that's what makeup does buddy", he said with a smile.

"I'm guessing your friend doesn't wear makeup".

"Not once, but there is a first time for everything right?", Lance responded.

"Well if that is all for you two gentlemen then I can check you out up front".

"Oh, one more thing". Keith watched as Lance diapered around an isle. He heard some rustling and soon the teen came around the corner with a circular container of what looked like powder. He nodded to the woman and she turned to lead them to the front desk. The arrived in front of a register and she took the items from them. She scanned them and put them into a plastic bag along with a sponge of some sort. Lance handed her a small rectangle of plastic that she swiped on the side of the device then handed it back to him. She typed out a few more things on the keyboard. Keith watched in wonder as a piece of paper started coming from the device and she pulled it out and put it in the bag with their items.

"Thank you for your purchase and have a nice day", she said with a smile as she waved to them.

"Thank you for your help and have a good day as well", Lance replied as he walled toward the door. Keith followed and waved a farewell to the woman. The two exited the building and hailed another cab. They climbed into the vehicle and sat in silence. After a while Keith heard Lance grabbing items from the bag. He produced the box and opened it to reveal a bottle of the colored liquid inside. He unscrewed the cap and broke the protective seal on the rim of the bottle.

"Can you turn toward me?", he asked.

"Sure", the raven replied. He turned slightly in his seat so that he could fave the teen in front of him. He watched as Lance poured some of the liquid onto the sponge that was in the bag then reach the sponge towards Keith's face. He shivered slightly as the surprisingly cool liquid made contact with his skin. After a few minutes and many dabbing motions Lance pulled back his hand. He then opened the container of powder and put some on the sponge.

"I'd close your eyes for this next part", he said as he reached for him again. Keith quickly closed his eyes as he felt the powder on his face. He could feel some of it falling over his eyelashes and off of his face. After a few seconds Lance was done. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Lance. The Cuban teen moved his face in different directions to inspect his work. He seemed satisfied with is because he put all the item back into the bag after closing them up. "There you go", he said. "Wanna see?"

Keith nodded and Lance reached into his pocket to get his phone. He typed something on the screen and then turned it towards Keith. The teen's eyes widened as he saw his reflection. He looked normal. Every trace of the purple on his skin was gone and replaced by smooth, pale skin. He turned his head up and saw that it was also gone on his neck. He looked like a normal person with his ears concealed and his patches covered. he smiled and felt the weight of the product on his skin for the first time as his muscles and skin attempted to move with it on. It was different but he could get used to it. He thanked Lance and they spent the rest of the ride talking idly. At some point he ended up asking him how he knew about this kind of thing. He received the answer that after living with an older sister in the trawls of puberty he was made the testing victim to her makeup looks as they had the same skin color. They laughed for a few minutes after that as Lance told the story of the first time Veronica had forced him to wear makeup and ended up taking a picture of him as blackmail for later.

Soon they were turning in front of the house. They paid the driver and thanked him. The two walked up to the front door. Lance produced a silver key from his pocket and inserted it into the lock. The door opened and they walked in. After they were in and Lance had retrieved the key from the lock they headed through the living room and down the hall.

"My parents won't be home for another three hours and Ronnie and the others will be buy sporadically within the next two."

"Okay. What would you like to do in the mean time?"

"We can chill in my room if you want. I do have some homework to do but it shouldn't take long".

"Sounds good to me". With that they headed to Lance's room and Keith took a seat on the bed. He stretched out his muscles and sighed in content as they were finally brought out of their uncomfortable tightness. Lance walked over and joined him on the bed with a notebook and pencil. He unpinned Keith's ears for him and gave them a scratch. The raven purred at the feeling and rested his cheek on his thigh as the teen beside him went to work.

"Oh, you're going to have to remove the makeup every night and reapply it in the morning", Lance said as he wrote in the notebook.

"Alright". Keith relaxed a little more and soon fell asleep in the comfort of Lance's presence. While he was asleep Veronica and a few other members of the family came home but didn't disturb Lance or Keith. Lance was soon done with his homework and decided to follow the sleeping teen beside him and take a nap. He carefully moved him so that he was laying on a pillow. He scooted close beside him and threw a blanket over the both of them. He wrapped an arm around Keith and was amused to see him snuggle closer to him in his sleep, most likely seeking warmth. Setting an alarm on his phone so that they didn't oversleep he closed his eyes and drifted off.


End file.
